AMIRA'S 6TH BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Amira had her 1st birthday with us. She turned 6......What a day... Just trying to get her to understand it was her birthday was not easy...still don't know if she got it. But she had alot of fun. We went to the apple farm and then had a donut cake with hot cider, and of course "presents". She got the "present" thing and loved all of them......Yes, she wore the sunglasses the whole night!

A little update...

From the bottom up.....The pictures start in Rome, go to Ethiopia, then to the day we met Mertalem (Amira) and the traditional Ethiopian dinner. It's been quite an ADVENTURE!........

PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some pictures in order rigth up to the day we first met Mertalem (Amira). I thought they would be better than me babbling on and on......

Hi ! Its been too long....But we are HOME with Amria!!!

Well we have been back for about 2 weeks....Praise God!! I will give a brief update since I'm not if I have the time or energy to go into it all.

It was a rough trip! Rome was great but expensive! we were there 3 days. We got to see the Vatican, B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!! And the Colossuem. I'll have pictures up later.

Ethiopia started out great, we got there on their New Year(2002). Wow! was that crazy! It was time to feast and there were goats everywhere, even some piles of skins on the side of the road with a man standing with a knife. Yikes... But the people are warm and friendly.

The Extremes are hard to get a handle on. I would see some people walking around in suits and dresses, others in regular clothes, and people in rags sitting by the road. everywhere you looked there was someone sleeping anywhere they could find, the medians in the roads, grasses areas, even just in the dirt. Under passes were like small communiites. There were people everywhere, walking, sitting or just standing.
The poverty is very real and extreme. It's hard to get past it or think of anything else. But the longer your there you begin to see that is was more of an issue for me than the Ethiopian people. We feel they are missing so much but are they really?(I'm not speaking of basic needs as food or clean water. All human should have that.) Everyone we talked to, who could speak English, ask how we liked Ethiopian culture, but never what's America like. Makes you think......

We got to worship in Ethiopia sunday, what an awesome experience. To realize your praying and worshiping around the world with another part of the Body of Christ was amazing. "T", who works for Awaa, played in the band and taught sunday school. He was Great, what a heart for the Lord. He learned all his English from cartoon network....lol...and he speaks perfect English. See cartoons are educational..lol..

Monday was the day!! We meet Mertalem(now Amira). It's hard to put into words the children, the transitional home and some of the conditions. Lets just say Amira had quite a few "issues". I will post more pictures as soon as I get them.

That night we had a traditional Ethiopian meal...YUM. Everyone seemed to like it. The food and entertainment was fabulous. They had dancers that seemed to peform stories as they danced. 2 hours later they were still going and they were fantastic.
It was quite a day!.......

Tuesday is when our troubles began, but it was also our "GOTCHA DAY", the day we got to get Amira and bring her back with us for good. Emotions were up, down and side ways.........What a whrilwind.........

ALMOST GONE.....

Well, It's only days till we leave. The craziness is on! We are still praying our new amended I-171H (immigration) will make it to the consulate in time. But we are almost packed, tight!. We have a full suitcase and some of ours full of donations for the orphange. I'm so excited to take them to the children.

My brain is on over load right now and I can't think..... so I'm hoping to be able to post when were there. Otherwise, we will have tons to share when we get home.

PLEASE PRAY FOR US AND OUR TRAVEL GROUP! We would appericate it.

Blessings.

"ADOPTION" shower for MERTALEM......

It was an Amazing day! Family and friends were there and the weather was beautiful (the day before was cold and sprinkling). Alot of people stayed and hung out for most the day, it was great. We had it at my sister,Dawn's, house. Andy has a big pole barn that he let us use. We went for the "Green" theme, new or used we would love it. Mertalem got sooooo much stuff! It's exciting to think she will be coming home to her own things. She will leave the Transitional House with nothing. I'm sad for her because she will have nothing from her past. But she will have "a future and a hope." I believe God and His word. It has taken me 2 days to clean and put everything away. Praise God! He is good. Not long now and were coming to get you princess.

THE UP'S AND DOWN'S .......AND THE ROAD OF FAITH...

We heard back from Terra at America World and we do need our amended I-171H to be in Ethiopia for our consulate appointment. With that said I quickly got the paperwork together and mailed to USCIS, immagration. That in turn needs to be processed and sent to Ethiopia buy the 15th. This is where faith meets the road...... Iv'e done the work and now we will pray and trust God. I will also continue my end by following up everyday if I have to or maybe calling our Congressman. But ultimately it is up to God. "Lord we need You! You are our Source."

In the meantime I will pack and get ready to leave in 1 week. I can't believe we will be meeting our daughter in 13 days. How amazing this journey has been. How faithful my Lord has been.

We would appericate your prayers. God bless.

Mertalem received her care package....

The Garrison's hand delivered our care package to Mertalem. She received it on Aug.18th and saw her new family for the first time. I wonder what was going through her mind???

We continually hear what a percious little girl she is, and she always has a big smile. The clock is ticking down and can't wait to hold her in my arms. She is our daughter no matter how far of what color. I'm not blind to the fact that someday, even many days, issues will arise because of our differences. But God is so much bigger than us, than this world, and He has a plan. And I am praising Him and thanking Him that I can be a small part of that. "I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11.

There truly are NO orphans of God.....Mertalem, God has a plan and a great purpose for you. We Love You. Be there soon.

"THERE ARE NO ORPHANS OF GOD"

"There are no strangers, there are no outcasts, there are no orphans of God."

WE PASSED COURT!!!!!!

Anna,from America world, called about 9:30 this morning to inform us "We Passed Court" and "rights have officially been transferred to us". I just lost it, completly, all I could do was sob. I just knew we would pass. God gave me a peace like I haven't had in a long time. He is so amazing! He has given me a veiw into His working during these last couple months. I am in awe!! Just to seen what He has done in Mertalem's life, how He has held her.

Let me give you a glimpse. First of all Let me introduce our daughter. She is Mertalem Gilson (formally Yohannes). She is 7ish, they are telling us, though her birth date says she is 5 ( Oct. 14, 2003). That is not uncommon we have found out, becuause of illiteracy and children are born at home and they also have a different calendar year things aren't always recorded correctly. When Mertalem came to the orphange the staff ran tests assed her to be older than 5. Also, that is when they learned she was Hep b positive. She then went onto the "waiting list."

Our God story starts to unflod for us when we got the call on June 25th form Terra our corrdinator, WE GOT A REFERRAL! Terra told us Mertalem had just been retested and came back negative for Hep b, so she could be referred to us as "healthy." I asked a little more about her because Terra said she was very special to the America world staff. Terra told me she was a percious littel girl and that she had had a dream about Mertalem just recently. You see Mertalem had been on the "waiting list" for quite some time now (over a year) and hadn't had a new picture taken. Terra wanted to get a new picture of her, so much so that she had a dream about it.

Terra dreamt that she was in Ethiopia at the transitional house (TH) asking Duni for a camera to take a picture of Mertalem. When out ran a beautiful little girl and hugged her. She looked down and it was Mertalem. Terra bent down and told her "we will have a family soon for you." I believe it was from God. A week or so later her testing came back negative and our paperwork got there a couple(literally) days later. We were matched!

Come to find out Mertalem came in at the same time as a little boy and the two were being tested and one of them was going to a family waiting for the next toddler. She came in as a 4yr old and could have been placed with this family. In fact she was praying for the little girl. But God had different plans. Mertalem came back Hep. b positive and therefore could not be adopted by this family (paperwork). So she went on to the waiting list as "special needs."

At this point we were still in the El Salvador program, God was begining to work on our hearts. He has a plan! If she hadn't had been on the waiting list she would have been adopted out. But like I said God had a plan from the begining. She waited on the list until God got a hold of our hearts to change us to the Ethiopia program. Our dossier (paperwork)seem like it took forever..... that's because it needed to get there at just the time He had planned it to. So our paperwork and her retesting,which came back negative for Hep. b, could be there at the same time. She had to come back negative because at the time out paperwork said "healthy". We wouldn't have been referred her with a positive result for Hep b. God knew.

A day after we got the referral another family called and wanted Mertalem. God's timing is perfect! She was ours. He had made it happen! From the begining He was working. That is the awesome God I serve.

The July update came and we were informed that she had been retested again and this time it came back positive for Hep b. But that doesn't matter she's our daughter. She knows were coming for her and she's excited. God sure can melt a heart. God knows her condition and we pray He will heal her and we will be doing all we can on our end. But her conditon isn't contageous and she can live a healthy normal life, and that's what we plan on giving her, with the Lord's help. He knows what we can handle and He knew from the begining she was for us. He just had to work on our hard hearts. And He does it so gentlely, I pray I can be mor like that. If someone would have told us 3yrs ago we would be adopting a Hep.b positive older child from Ethiopia, I would have not believed it. Now you couldn't stop us!

Wonder what my amazing husband will say to the next adoption????????? Shhhhhhhhhh..

Is it right for everyone? I'd say "no". But if you truly want to see God work ADOPT and watch Him! Oh, it's not easy, but nothing great ever is. This was God's plan form the begining...Jesus was sent to bridge the unbridgable gap between sinful man and a perfect God. When we accepted Jesus' free offer of salvation we became "adopted" (God's words) into God's family. So see it's always been His plan.

Thank you Heavenly Father for this awesome journey! I can't wait to see what's next!

PRAISE MY GOD....Jen

MERTALEM GILSON!!!!!!!!!

UPDATES are here!!!!

We have good news and not so good news...... Updates of our daughter came, and new pictures (soon we sould be able to share them) she's such a smiler :)! and her hair is growing alittle. She has gained weight, probably because they eat all carbs ( pasta, rice, macaroni and enjera bread). She is learnig to trace letters and numbers, and has memorized some of the alphabet. She plays with dolls and likes to hug and give kisses:) We asked how she feels about being adopted and this was her answer; She is excited, she asks when her family is coming. I lost it there. It's been quite a journey and still isn't over. There are still hurdles.....but we're going to make it! With God beside us we are going to bring our little girl home!

Now for the not so good news ( a hurdle). They had her retested for Hep.B, because of the postive then negative, and she tested "positive". She is definetly our daughter so now it's "What next". What do we need to do?..... Well we took labs to the Dr. here to get recommendations and we will have to amend our home study AGIAN....It will need to say special needs. She is our daughter, no matter how God had to get her to us. You see she would have never been referred to us if her Hep.B wouldn't have come back negative. Our home study said "healthy", so they couldn't have referred her to us because she is considered special needs. But God got her to us, because He has had her for us along. So we'll take this hurdle one at a time with God's help. We would appericate prayer to heal her little body and strength to do what needs to be done. Blessings until next time.

Little travellers

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WHY ETHIOPIA...Looking through the eyes of Jesus.....

Why Adopt From Ethiopia?
• 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old
• 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
• Coffee prices (Ethiopia’s only major export) fell 40-60% from 1998-2002.
• Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals)
• Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.
• Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school.
• In 1993, after 30 long years of war, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia and became an independent nation leaving Ethiopia landlocked without any major seafaring ports.
• In the 90s the population (3%) grew faster than food production (2.2%)
• One in six children die before their fifth birthday
• Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa
• The median age in Ethiopia is 17.8 years
• There are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia.
• 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)

TTD!!! (tentative travel date)....It's here!!!!!

Well low and behold as I was skimming through my yahoo group emails there it was......our TTD!!!!! (tentative travel date). We could be flying September 12th! Yes....yes....yes. We finally, after almost 3 yrs, have a date to go and get our little girl. God willing we pass court or it could be a little later. But I have a date and that's all that matters. She is coming home!!!!!!!

As soon as we pass court we will be able to show pictures of her and tell you what an amazing God story she is. Please pray, as of right now if all goes right there is at least 7 more families flying with us to pick up their children. How exciting is that!
God bless.

IN THE WAITING.....

My mind is spinning......I'm in the waiting.....waiting for the days to pass for our court date, but not really wanting summer to fly by. Waiting for our questions to be answered about our daughter.....I want to know more about her...her size...her health..her likes and dislikes...just to get to know her more. Waiting for everything to come together. But God is in the waiting! I know He is doing amazing things while I am just waiting.

I just read some of our Ethiopian yahoo groups blog sites. Their are families in Ethiopia picking up their children right now! Praise God! I have been following them pretty much daily, what a journey! They are headed back tonight. May God keep them safe and sane.

Hope to have more news soon!
Blessings and peace:)

This is the wedding cake my sister roped me into doing for her friend.lol. My sister loves a challenge, by the way she is my twin, so since she always does her girls birthday cakes, all deck out, she thought...yeah...why not! She has never done a wedding cake....crazy...but never say die. And as you can see it turned out great and they loved it. So much so we couldn't get it served fast enough. The bottom was white with a raspberry custard I made. The middle was chocolate with mocha cream filling..yum. The top was just banana nothing special. But needless to say it was not easy. We had to rebake two of the cakes and then at 9pm after we had gotten them all together and crumb frosted (1st thin layer of frosting to keep crumbs in) a peice of the back on the white cake started to fall off. So after some panicing we kicked it into gear, because there was no way we were starting over, and came up with a genius idea.......tullin....We wrapped the cakes in tullin. God is good! It looked great and tasted great. Nice to see I'm still up for the challenge. What's next!

challenges.....

COURT DATE!!!

Marc was on vacation this week. We took one day to go to Tawas and relax, but after that we did work around the house. There's alot to get ready and finished up before our little princess comes home. This coming week I will finish up the girls room, hopefully. In the midst of this week we got some unexpected news......We got our court date! I thought for sure it wouldn't be till MOWA was back in session, but Praise God! it came. AUGUST 17TH!!!! So that means the courts aren't closing yet. "Lord, Please bless our court date and let us pass." It's also my niece's birthday and the day our 1st dossier made it to El Salvador (good date). Now we wait till then.

I also got alittle bad news, the couple that was taking our carepackage, to our little princess, can not. They have a family medical issue that came up (praying for a good outcome). Now I need to see if anyone else is going to Ethiopia soon and can take it, or I'll just have to spend the money to sent it.(YIKES! expensive) But I really want her to have it before we get there, so she can have something from us and pictures to get her farmiliar with us. God willing it will get there.

I really can't believe we could be going to Ethiopia as soon as September, WOW! It didn't seen real for so long. Then it was all of a sudden and moving fast. God has moved mountains and I know He will continue to move. I can't wait to see what's next.... Following God is truly and adventure...one well worth following.

Peace and Joy in our Savior.

UPS...AND..DOWNS...

Yesterday we had a conference call because MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs),the agency in Ethiopia that handles the paperwork, referral letters and courtdates, has closed for training until July 23rd. Which is crazy timing for all who have referral, with a court date or without (which is us), because historically courts have closed for the rainy season (1st of Aug-1st of Oct.). We have been told to perpare to have to wait till the begining of Oct :( We've have also been informed that some of the departments within the court are not closing, these are ones we would need open in order to complete all paperwork for travel. So it's all up in the air (well for us "people),But our Mighty God knows and He is working it for the best of EVERYONE, not just us. America World has been amazing in this whole process. They tell us everything they know, and they aren't receiving any information but "wait and see".

We have not yet rceived a courtdate, so we are preparing ourselves for an Oct. courtdate. Yet I know we have a Great God and God willing the courts will not close this year. Also, I know are children are now in a safe place, being cared for by wonderful people, who love these children dearly. So I can breath a sigh of relief.......and pray for God to continue to heal,protect,cleanse,and nurish our little girl. "God bless you and hold you little one till we come to get you. Thank you Lord!"

PLEASE KEEP US IN YOUR PRAYERS!! God Bless.

keion and squirt

REFERRAL!!!!!!!!

I'm not good at keeping up with this:( But we've been buisy! We got out refferal! A little girl 7ish. We can't wait to share more about her amazing God story and photo, but we must wait till after we pass court. That makes us her offical parents in Ethiopia. Court is a funny thing, you never know whats going to happen. They tell us we have a very good chance of passing court the first time, because the profile on her is extensive. But we never know........ Were waiting to heat when our court date will be. It should be within the next week or two, God willing.

A family in our yahoo group is traveling to Ethiopia in 2 weeks and has asked if we would like them to take our little girl a care package. We of course said "yes" and we thank them very much for doing that for us. So, today I sent out our care package which included: a little jean dress jumper, a princess soft doll, a photo album of her new family, and a little bag to carry it all. I can't wait for her to get it. I hope she loves us as much as we already love her. "God bless our little Ethiopian princess".

Also, we are in the midst of redoing rooms. (craziness). We have just finished keion's (our son) , all we have to do is move him in, which includes a new bed. Now the fun part, the girls room. Bailee (our daughter) has decided on purple for the paint. We will get the same white day bed as Bailee has for her little sister. Bailee has a camp rock theme for her bed, and her sister will have a princess theme. I'm going to have fun doing this room, thinking of her and Bailee playing in there one day real soon. Yea, can't wait. Welll we let you know the court date when it comes. Blessings.

June 13, 2009 Frist time ever blogging!

Well I've finally joined the rest of the world. Here I am blogging! pretty amazing for me, I'm a pen and paper kinda girl. I've started this for one specific reason our adoption. We are in the process of adopting a young girl from Ethiopia (7 to 9 yrs. old). This has been a long time coming. Our story starts about 3 1/2 yrs. ago when we applied to America World to adopt a little girl from El Salvador. It's been a journey since then. The dossier for El Salvador was crazy! which included a physc. report (but we found out our IQs. not to bad a must say). We finished that up sent it in and waited, and waited. 2 yrs came and went until we felt God was tugging on our hearts. Funny enough I started reseraching Ethiopia. Funny because years before when I became a Christian I prayed, "Please don't send me to Africa." God has done alot of work on my heart and still is. Now I can't wait to go! God kept working on us all through Christmas until we knew in His gentle and amazing way He had filled our heart with a love for Africa. I can think of no where else I'd rather be. So, here we go again a new dossier. This one was much easier. Of course it's never easy waiting on others to complete their part of the paperwork. But as of June 11, 2009 our dossier made to AWAA to be reviewed and sent off to Ethiopia! So begins our wait again but this time with confidence.